The Wrath of Khan at 40: Ranking Star Trek’s Summer of Sweet Revenge list

We’re ranking Star Trek’s Summer of Sweet Revenge list selections in honor of The Wrath of Khan.

Star Trek’s dot com crafted a list of classic Trek stories for their Summer of Sweet Revenge list. The list of course is a nod to the 40th anniversary of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, which features maybe the greatest revenge story in Star Trek history. After being marooned on a planet that quickly became uninhabitable, Khan Noonien Singh lost his wife and swore revenge on James Kirk, who never came back to check on Khan and the rest of his people.

Due to this, Khan hijacked a Federation starship and tried to kill Kirk and his crew. It didn’t go Khan’s way though there were casualties.

It’s easily the best revenge story in Star Trek, which is why it made Star Trek’s Summer of Sweet Revenge list. We’re not going to include it in the ranking, however, as this is specifically about the television episodes that had a strong sense of revenge. We’re also not going to rank the 2009 Star Trek film for the same reason.

The rankings of this list will not be about the best overall episode, but the episode that tells the best story of pure revenge. So keep that in mind.

Ranking Star Trek’s Summer of Sweet Revenge List

"8. Lower Decks: “Where Pleasant Fountains Lie” S2, Ep 77. Voyager: “Relativity” S5, Ep 246. The Original Series: “The Conscience of the King” S1, Ep 115. The Next Generation: “I, Borg” S5, Ep 234. Discovery: “Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad” S1, Ep 73. The Next Generation: “Datalore” S1, Ep 132. Deep Space Nine: “Blood Oath” S2, Ep 191. Enterprise: “Fortunate Son” S1, Ep 10"

So why did I rank the episodes the way I did? Good question. Let’s look at the first four episodes. With “Where Plesant Fountains Lie”, I didn’t feel this was a revenge story, so much of a coming-of-age story. The whole “rival” troupe is less about tearing the other person down and more about showing yourself the worth you deserve. So I don’t feel it’s a true revenge story.

“Conscience of the King” is not a revenge story by any means, but more of a story about a case of hidden identity. “I, Borg” was about finding out who you are outside of your known surroundings and Relativity was just, kinda a thing.

“Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad” and “Datalore” are absolutely revenge stories, they’re just not the best example of revenge stories. Harry Mudd and Lore make for good antagonists but I felt both really didn’t have the script to bolster themselves up.

I docked “Blood Oath” from the top spot because while it’s a great episode about revenge, Deep Space Nine had an even better revenge story; “For the Uniform”. So I had to dock a spot for that.

That means I’m giving “Fortunate Son” the top spot because it really does a great job showing the consequences of following your rage.